Ch.1- Not So Sweet Dreams
[insert clever joke about how Victorious is not mine because I'm too lazy to think of one]
A/N: I'm surprised people actually looked at this fanfic. Thanks, readers. I was kinda brain-dead on what to do in this chapter, but if this is at least being read by a few people, I'll keep on writing it. I know how upsetting it is when fanfics end up incompleted.
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This was definitely a dream. I've been here, to this place of endless darkness. Many, many, times really. Even still, I can't help but lie in fear. I hear a voice, which I recognize immediately. It still scares me, to the point where I break down as it overwhelms me at times. It lays in the back of my head, haunting all my dreams, injecting my mind with its call. I hear a bottle break in the distance, only alerting me that something is coming, yet I can't move. The darkness soon engulfs the little light I saw in this corrupted dream world, and darkness slowly merged into a shadowy figure, a silhouette I recognized a little too much. I felt it's cold touch, as the shadows slowly began devouring me who-
"BEEP. BEEP. BEEP."
I awoke to the ear-piercing beep, as it gave me an extremely annoying wake-up call. I quickly shut it off and laid back in my bed, before remembering the terrifying nightmare, burnt freshly in my brain. Maybe I'll just stay up for now.
I let out a huge shudder, still recalling the shatter of the glass bottle, the sound ringing in my head. I start walking to the bathroom, turning the shower in at a lukewarm temperature, before slowly discarding all of my pajamas.
As I shower, I can't help but recall the glass bottle. It's a little unsettling, in all honesty. How when you hear a certain something, touch a certain someone, see a certain anything, your body reacts in ways different than normal. I know, it sounds stupid, but keep following me on this one. Some things make you feel good inside, giving out pure joy or pleasure. It, sadly, goes both ways. The remainder of those terrible memories, those you'd rather keep in your head, that you can't help but cry about on certain days- they tear you up inside, just like secrets. It's hard to believe things that can cause such happiness, or things that don't affect you at all can just emotionally destroy you from the inside out. They're like scars on your body. When you slowly touch the scar, it gives you chills through your whole body. It's almost as if the moment of impact, where your skin was cut, grazed to the point of leaving a permanent reminder, is happening again right in front of you. The memory burns brightly in your mind, in such vivid colors. Time slows down, and you just freeze up completely. The thing that hurts is that you can't escape the deja-vu feeling, not until your fingers trace off the skin. As I go out of the shower, quickly drying myself, I catch a glance at a scar on my wrist. I have quite a lot of physical scars, but they, mostly, do nothing. The biggest is the one on the side of my right cheek, which ends close to my eyes, but that one is personal... At times, the emotional scars hurt more. Both physical and emotional scars are connected to memories, which just makes it hurt more. We all have those things, those emotional scars. Like when you touch a scar on your body, something triggers the memory kept inside your head. No matter how small or big, you can't help but feel that deja-vu all over again. You wish you could just forget the whole thing, rather than relive it with every color so clear.
I start putting on my clothes, before applying makeup on my face. I can't help but think, what do you envision when glass breaks? The shatter, slowly breaking into multiple shards, as they scatter everywhere. Something so fragile, yet when broken, goes from smooth to sharp. When you try to pick it up, the jagged corners penetrate the skin, causing a small cut. To me, it's remembering my worst nightmare. I put my makeup away, strolling down to the kitchen. Considering no one greeted me good morning, I figure my mom is still at work, working late. My eyes, trying to forget the memory, still fresh in my mind, start trailing up to the clock before realizing the problem.
Oh, shoot.
I quickly shove some toast in the toaster, quickly remembering I had school. I dozed off way too much there. As soon as the toaster pops, I shove a piece in my mouth, before snatching my backpack, completely ignoring the toast dangling from my mouth. I slam the door and rush into my car.
As I drive to school, I can't help but sing along to the radio. I look outside and let out a huge grin, as I can't help but smile at the beautiful day. There was no cloud in sight, it was warm and once I reached the parking lot, I saw a whole lot of smiling faces. I somehow instantly forget the nightmare, and my insides just fill with joy. The past is the past, and nightmares are normal. Today is a brand new day.
I didn't pay much attention to my first few classes, they were all things I was familiar with. I was mostly fidgeting in my seat, thinking about how hungry I was. I probably should have taken that second piece of toast as well. My mom's not gonna be happy about that. Yikes. I started doodling in my notebook, out of pure boredom. I started doodling a small cat, oh, maybe we could add a little tree, with a pretty flower to the-
"RING, RING, RING."
"That's the bell. We'll continue where we left off tomorrow. Class dismissed." the teacher said, before sitting down again typing a long document on his laptop.
I quickly dashed to lunch, feeling famished. I had to shove through many people, which I had to quickly apologize to while running, before slamming into the doors and reaching the Asphalt Café. God, I need food. I had absolutely no time to make my own lunch, but I managed to get to the Grub Truck first. Oddly, no Festus could be seen through the glass window.
"Festus. Festus!" No response. Being my smart self, I start knocking on the truck. "Festus! Festus!" Still nothing. I'm starting to get a little ticked, so I keep on knocking, getting harder each time. People are starting to line up behind me, the line getting longer and longer. Normally, I'd try to keep my cool, but I'm starving. "Festus! FESTUS." That's it, I can't take it. "FESTUS!"
"BANG!"
"Oy, buddy! Why do you call my- oh my, OY, WHO DID THIS TO MY TRUCK?" I hear Festus, coming out from the bathroom. So that's where he was. But, what does he mean by who did this to his tru- OH. I slowly pull my hand back, only to see that I made a dent in the Grub Truck. Oh, shoot. Everyone is staring at me like I'm a superhuman or a monster. I accept both. I can't let people know my secret so...I got it! Ok Catarina, drive-by acting exercise. Am I talking to myself? Maybe I am crazy. Anyway, you're going to act like you just hurt your hand very badly, and you have no powers seen as unique to the human race whatsoever. Dang, maybe I am crazy.
"Ouch, that really burns, god. Oh god, OUCH!" I started rubbing my hand, which was a light shade of red all over. I never felt anything, but hey, we learn how to act in this school. I see Tori and the gang running over to me, with looks that give off a mix of confusion and worry.
"Cat, what happened to your wrist?" Tori says, with the words "Are you ok?" written all over her face.
"Um, I was looking for Festus, and I started knocking on his truck. I thought he was inside, or like he was outside in the Asphalt Cafe. I got really mad because you see, my brother woke me up really late, so I didn't really eat much, and I never made lunch for me, which caused my stomach to rumble a lot. Anyways, I kinda sorta lost my temper, and...well you know. Ouch, god." Playing this ditzy girl act is pretty funny. I don't think they suspect a thing. I've pretended to be childish for so long, it's basically second nature to me. Heh heh, pretty good, if I say so myself. Before anyone else can respond, Lane suddenly comes out of the door, walking towards the crowd around me.
"What's going on here?" Andre responds back almost immediately.
"You see, Festus was in the bathroom, and Lil' Red was really hungry, so she started calling him while knocking on the Grub Truck. She kinda, how do you say, lost her temper, and somehow banged a small dent into the wall of the truck there." Thank god for Andre. I just hope this doesn't turn into something big. I lost my temper, I'll pay it back, no big deal. I just want to get out of this situation.
"Ok, Cat. We're gonna have to give you a small fine, but it won't be too much since you hurt no one, and the dent isn't too big." I let out a long, built up sigh. I can get out now.
After the accident, I immediately went back home after school, saying I felt tired. This was a lie because the real problem, sadly, was right in front of me. My mother is an Uncommon, like me. If you haven't caught on already, I'm not normal. They're called Uncommons, and they're extremely rare. No more than 250 currently exist in this world, at least, those who have been discovered. I have superhuman strength, as you've seen. Not many are in America, I've only seen one other, who was an ally of my mother. They're so rare, kept secret by the government, that almost everyone doesn't even know they exist. After a long talk about, blah blah, control your powers, this, blah blah, that, I was let off the hook, only because my mother understood the struggle of controlling and containing your powers.
To get the whole Grub Truck incident off my mind, I decided to jog around the city earlier than normal. Nothing happened much, I just jumped around, ceiling to ceiling, out of boredom. What you saw me do back there a few days ago, with the whole gang beat-up, happens rarely. I really don't mind, because just running around the city, letting my powers free, just sucks all the stress right out of me. It's like my temporary distraction from the world, where I can just jump off of buildings without people knowing it's me. People know about me, I've been seen stopping crimes, so the police don't hold me as a threat. It's not a big deal when I jump around buildings. The crowd calls me a hero, but I don't see it like that. I just see myself as a person who just doesn't approve of- well I guess that still describes a hero.
"Thump, clang clang." Huh. I guess I'm doing something today. I jump down to the alley where the sound came from, but I see no gang, no robber, no anything. Well, that's new. Lemme check again. Nothing, nothing, nothing, a man in the corner, nothing-wait. There was a tall, slender, man, wearing a black coat, with long, dark brown hair that covered his left eye. Odd, I could have sworn that corner was empty last time. He starts walking up to me, before abruptly stopping, and starts staring straight into my eyes. I give him an intimidating look, but his look feels stern as if he was shooting a beam going straight through my head. Moments pass, neither person even saying a word. I'm starting to get a little impatient until he turns around, eyes shifting away from me.
"So, you're one too. We'll see how you turn out." His voice sounds deep, yet smooth. He turns around, not looking back as he steps out of the alleyway.
"What do you mean by that?" No response. I walk out to follow him, only to see him disappear out of nowhere. I could have sworn I saw him, or my eyes were merely playing tricks on me.
I wonder what that was all about.
I didn't go around the city, but instead, sat on the ledge of a building, the man's words echoing in my head. Everything about him was off. Who was he? Why did he come to me? What were his intentions?
Maybe he was an Uncommon.
What does he want to do with me?
"Rumble, rumble." New question. Why haven't I had dinner yet? I didn't feel like going to my house, so there was only one thing to do. I pulled out my PearPhone and began to type a message to my mom.
Hey Mom, I'll be at Jade's house for the night. Love you.
And, send.
When my mind is filled with all these thoughts, I go to Jade's. She doesn't know my secret, but that doesn't mean I can't go to her house for comfort. Once I reach her house, I climb her tree to get up to her window, like I have ever since we were kids. I glance through the glass panel, to see Jade, looking at a textbook. I knock on her window, and she turns around and stands up, her face forming a small smile. She opens the window, then presses her lips onto me. Honestly, I needed this. From everything that happened today, I just need some time to myself. Well, I'm not by myself. I'm with Jade. As she separates her lips from mine, I can't help but let out a huge grin.
"So, what's the reason for this unexpected visit?" she says after I come in through the window.
"No reason, really. I just have a lot on my mind, and I miss this time with just the two of us." Jade lets out a chuckle, before giving me a small peck on the lips. As I sit down on her bed to have a conversation, my stomach rumbles once more. "Sorry, I'm starving. I haven't eaten."
"I didn't eat either, and my parents are out of town, you want to just order a pizza?" I respond by giving her a kiss on the cheek, and her neutral expression suddenly turns into a small smile.
"Sure."
We ended up watching movies on her couch while we were eating, and her face buries into the crook of my neck, her eyes beginning to daze off, as she slowly cuddles up to me, falling into a calm slumber.
"I love you, Kitty Cat."
I slowly kiss her temple, before pulling her up a little, my arm embracing her body. I let out a smile, knowing no nightmares would not come tonight. As my eyes slowly started shutting as well, I wrapped both of my arms around her, with only sweet dreams flooding my mind. All the weight of today just came off from one sentence. Happy thoughts circle my head, and I feel like I'm in euphoria. My eyes close shut, as I snuggle even closer to her, feeling the warmth of her body.
"I love you too, Jadey."
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I was honestly brain dead on what to do, but I got my mind together, and wrote this pile of story with a hint of fluff. I hope you enjoyed it, and if there's anything I could improve on. I'm sorry for any grammatical errors, but hey, I'm only human, and Grammarly can be stupid at times.
There was a lack of action in this chapter, but I promise things will develop, like the strange man, and the story of Cat's past. When that will come, I honestly dunno. I'm expecting to make this story like at least 5-10 chapters, so considering I try to update once a week, it'll be coming soon.
Thank you for reading, and please tell me if I can improve on anything and review, please.
Reviews make me happy. :D
